Have you ever experienced the childhood ecstasy that comes with swimming, no matter where or how? Well, I did. It was so thrilling.<\/p>\n
I used to enjoy swimming, but the agony of losing a younger brother to drowning and thereafter have lived with the trauma like many other siblings, parents and survivors across low and middle income countries.<\/p>\n
In April this year, news from Malawi flooded international media reporting children aged one to 11 drowning while swimming in Kachule Dam in Mangochi District.<\/p>\n
Eleven-year-old Allie Mwamandi from Chipande village drowned in the dam.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time news from Malawi has surfaced in the global media. For example, in 2017 two children aged two and 10 drowned in Nkhotakota District.<\/p>\n
According to World Health Organisation data published in 2020, death rates in Malawi stands at 2.3 per 100,000 of the population, with 458 drowning contributing 0.47% of total death.<\/p>\n
Malawi\u2019s drowning cases are just a drop in the ocean compared to its neighbouring countries in the Great Lakes region, which includes Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.<\/p>\n
For instance, \u201cabout hundred people, the majority of which are children, have drowned in the last two years\u201d the Rwanda National Police reported.<\/p>\n
Among the 100 people were three children who drowned in the city of Kigali.<\/p>\n
Kenya lost 2000 people to drowning in 2024, Uganda nearly 3000 people and in Tanzania there are 3454 to 2486 deaths annually.<\/p>\n
Such scattered drowning data reminds me of the unrecorded drowning of my younger brother, Bob Kizito, at the age of just eight in a pond.<\/p>\n
Growing up our parents used to send us to fetch water at spring wells but in the vicinity were swamps and a muddy pond that we used to play and swim in.<\/p>\n
One fateful Saturday afternoon Kizito got stranded in a muddy pond with water at his mouth level, his panicking body vertically submerged to the bottom.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how many children\u2019s lives have been lost and their families shattered \u2014 playing in unsafe areas. Lack of supervision of children has exposed thousands to drowning.<\/p>\n
Drowning is not limited to unsafe swimming places like lakes, swamps, rivers, spring wells and ponds; many children (and adults) die in floods.<\/p>\n
For instance, in Gisozi and Nyabugoyo suburbs children aged four and five were washed away while playing in a water channel in Rwanda.<\/p>\n
In 2024, a child aged 10 was washed away by floods in Bwaise after heavy rainfall in Kampala.<\/p>\n
A World Health Organisation report stated that about 300,000 people around the world drowned in 2024, and declared it a global crisis, with children being the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n
Drowning is the fourth leading cause of death after lower respiratory infections, malaria and diarrhoeal disease among children aged one to four (24%). It is the third leading cause of death among children aged five to 14 (19%) and 12th among teenagers and youth aged 15 to 29.<\/p>\n
It can take up to 15 minutes for a child to drown, not much time for them to be rescued. In Malawi, a two and half year old girl and her one-year-old sister drowned while crossing the Nansanto River.<\/p>\n
Before policymakers and schools the duty falls on parents, guardians and local residents to supervise children whenever they are around water.<\/p>\n
Teaching children how to swim and people how to perform CPR is essential to save lives. <\/p>\n
Preschool children need safe places to play away from water and barriers should be installed to control access to water.<\/p>\n
Flotation devices should be accessible to children, especially those living on islands and near lakesides.<\/p>\n
A national drowning prevention plan is needed in all the countries, especially those which have large waterbodies in the Great Lakes region.<\/p>\n
Robert Kigongo is a sustainable development analyst.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever experienced the childhood ecstasy that comes with swimming, no matter where or how? Well, I did. It was so thrilling. I used to enjoy swimming, but the<\/p>\n